The Porch Lights are Spray-painted.

 I thought I would just confess that now. 

I'm hoping to get back into regular blogging after this extended holiday break. I have thought how best to keep presenting this house-building saga that won't bore all of you. When I first started blogging about it here I did just a picture and a sentence, as presenting this subject to the general public was pretty overwhelming. Obviously I could not keep up the minimalist version! 

So far I have been trying to keep the house posts chronological, but I have been thinking more lately about making them topical. Longer, topical posts will not convey the time spent, which is a pity because one of the reasons I am writing about this is to help anyone who is thinking about DIY building a house: It takes a LONG time and I want to accurately represent that! But I think they might be more interesting as we get into places like the kitchen.

Now back to the porch lights!

We bought cheap outdoor light fixtures at the local store because:

 #1 at this point in the build, $5 light fixtures were looking pretty good! 

 #2 they were acceptable (had an old-fashioned look to them) 

#3 they were abundant (in stock) 

#4 they were cheap-- oh did I already mention that? 

These inexpensive, acceptable lights were clear, and once they were installed we realized that it wasn't so pleasant looking at the bare bulb through the glass. So I bought a can of spray paint to turn the clear  glass into faux "milk glass." Not to make them look cheaper, and not to annoy the builders by asking that all 7 lights be taken down and re-installed around the entire house, but just to tame that bare bulb look.

 I learned some lessons about spray paint. First of all, when they tell you to go over the object several times with light coats, be patient and do what they say! There will be spots where you will think you missed, because the coats are thinner in those places. Do not be tempted to just “spot paint” it to fix it!  I was a pro until the very end, when I succumbed to temptation. However, only I know where to look for those mistakes, and I would say they turned out pretty good overall. 

Had they been more expensive fixtures, I am not sure I would have had the courage to take spray-paint to them.

Having outdoor lights aglow surely makes a house look like a welcoming home!